Two four-day weekends have been absolute bliss, I’ve been doing my best to relax as much as possible and make the most of them. I’ve got through a lot of films, a lot of hours off games, and enough meat to sink a battleship at barbecues. Alongside all of this, I’ve managed to spend a good deal of time out in the garden looking after my plants, and as it’s been a few weeks since I posted photos of it all on here I’ve decided to update with more pictures!
First up is my biggest crop, my pride and joy, my pea beds.
My peas in their new, much sturdier, home
They’re going great guns, and I’ve built them a new home with more canes and some strong pea netting. Hopefully as the weather warms up (wishful thinking I know) they’ll grow up tall and strong and I’ll have a good crop from them.
Growing strong, and grabbing hold of anything they can!
These are the chillies, and I’m really chuffed at how well they’re going. Since I re-potted them out of their propagator trays they’ve grown like mad. We’ve been preparing the front garden (getting rid of weeds/bushes, leveling lawn etc) and I’ve spotted a nice spot along the wall where I’m going to plant them before too much longer, plenty of sun and room to grow and produce some nice hot chillies.
My chilli plants, not far from being planted permanently
Believe it or not, this is broccoli. This was the crop that was doing the best in the propagators, but once I planted it I realised that it was too early really, they were very weak. Despite some of them dying off (mainly through a certain cat deciding it was the most comfortable place to sleep…), the rest are growing away now, and I’m hoping that I’ll get quite a few to eat in the Autumn.
Yeah, among that mess those are broccoli
If you read back a few entries here, you’ll see a rather sorry-looking tray of dirt and not much else that was meant to be corn. Nothing happened for so long that I was convinced I’d either done something wrong, or the seeds were duff, but lo and behold – shoots! I’m so pleased they’re growing! I know I might not get much to eat from these this year, but them just growing is a triumph all the same. They have really unusual dark purple stems.
Woohoo! Life in the corn tray!
From the vegetables then, to the fruit. First up is some strawberry plants. I stuffed them in the top of an old planter when I was given them, just because I had nowhere else to put them, but since then I’ve sorted out some troughs and re-planted them, and they’re growing like crazy. The flowers are all out now and I’m expecting some fruit from them in the not-too-distant future.
Delicious strawberries soon, and so easy to grow
These are the goji berry plants my mum gave me. Since the last set of photos I’ve built them a teepee from cane and garden twine, and while they’re growing, I’m not expecting any fruit, not this year at least. They’re notoriously awkward to grow, but they’re alive at least – bonus!
My gojis with their new, "Native American" inspired home
And last but not least, my blackcurrant bushes. I bought these a couple of months ago and since then they’ve grown really well, and I have the start of fruit on them. You can’t really see from here, but they have tiny green berries starting to develop. I know I’m only going to have enough fruit to make a tiny pie, but I’m proud of them anyway, and I’m sure that if I learn how to prune them at the end of the season, they’ll keep growing bigger and stronger as the years go on.
Look closely, those are tiny berries!
So there we have it, my kitchen garden so far. I’ve got a few more things to go in before it gets too late for this year, but I’m both amazed and pleased that everything’s going so well at the moment. I might not be in a position to not bother going to Tesco any more for my fruit and veg, but I am going to be eating the ‘fruits of my labour’ (oh dear….) before too long. It’s amazing how satisfying and addictive it is, and after a trip to the garden centre on Saturday morning that culminated with a coffee and a massive almond slice, I can see why people get into it 😉 Now all I have to do is stop a certain someone eating all my compost…
Murph, the compost-deficient spaniel, sleeping off a meal of dirt...
very very cute puppy 🙂